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((As promised, an Azu-Kozri story. There are three parts, though the second is short. It's pretty crummy, considering it was written late at night, but...I like it. So, without further rambling...))

Rescue
Part One: Matter of Time

The rain pattered softly on the cobblestones, fletching the stonework with darker imprints. The smooth stone was familiar to the lone, white feline, and it made her glad. Familiarity was good in a strange place.

Azunara looked out at the districts, which were crowded with various citizens doing their daily business. Men bustled in and out of blacksmiths, carrying weapons and armor. Women bargained over cloth; though it was subdued sort of talk. Children ran amongst feet, getting in the way, but even they played grim games of war. None noticed the white feline that crept among them, too distracted by their own conversations.

Azunara could easily hear the drift of them. A group of children were running around, crying out. “I wanna be a paladin!” “I want to be a mage!” “I call being a rogue!” “Warrior!” “Awww, I hate being the warlock. Warlock isn’t fun. I don’t wanna be the bad guy.” Azunara resisted the temptation of raising her voice into the shoutings, calling dibs on druid. Drawing attention to herself seemed like a bad idea.

The men were talking about the nearby towns that had fallen to some sort of mysterious disease. Azunara shuddered at the talk. It quickly dissolved into an argument over whether a mace or a sword was more effective, and she moved on.

She didn’t even stop to hear what the women were speaking about. She had to move on. There was a quiet thrum of panic from the dragon that had sent her here. If she had any hope of staging a rescue mission, she had to move fast.

Weaving through the crowd, she quickly made her way to a less busy section of the city, past the markets. The city was similar to Stormwind, making it easy to navigate. The druid was just about to enter a small library when she heard a noise from the entrance of the city, her sharp ears picking it up easily.

There was some sort of arguing, and then sounds of groaning and crying. Taking the place of the citizens a few minutes ago were ghouls, and tons of them. They gave screaming howls, and there was the sound of hammer meeting flesh as the Prince took care of a few of them.

Pouring from hiding places, more undead came. Necromancers, nerubian, geists, more ghouls, and even an abomination now prowled the districts. Azunara gave a quiet, panicked hiss and faded into the shadows.

She heard one of the necromancers cry out, “I smell your fear!” Azunara whimpered softly, tail lashing. The necromancer was bluffing. They had to be. Her hiding spot was a pretty good one, wasn’t it?

She was quickly proved wrong when a bolt of shadow energy smashed into the crate she had ducked behind. The druid snarled, leaping into a nearby building. The inhabitants looked surprised, briefly, almost as if they didn’t expect her. Then again, Azunara doubted anyone would expect her.
She smashed the door shut behind her, locking it as effectively as she could, grateful that all her time in cat form made her pretty agile with her paws. She sighed with relief, only to get that feeling she was being watched.

“Oh. Fel. Subtlety. Right.” She said, blinking and looking at the humans, who were staring at her just as dumbfounded. “The timelines didn’t predict your arrival, mortal.” One of them said, trying to sound cool. Azunara pricked her ears, tilting her head, “Well, yeah. One of the bronzes sent me here. On a rescue mission.” She immediately regretted it. Not the best thing to say to humans...Then again, why did they call her ‘mortal’, as if they weren’t ones.

The humans looked at each other. “So you are serving the Bronze Dragonflight?” Azunara watched them, that slow, sinking feeling of panic, dread, and being in over her head settling in.

“Yeah…” She replied cautiously, then muttered softly to herself, “Oh, Light. What have I done now?”

She got ready to bolt, and the humans nodded. “Very well, then. You will have to be killed. We can not let you rescue the Bronze. He will be ours.” Their figures shifted and warped, skin giving way to black scales, laced with the thin, white, spidery essence of time and corruption.

“Oh, fel!” Azunara yelped, moving back. Great. Dragons or undead. Why didn’t Chromie tell her about this? The transformations were coming to a close, draconic muzzles full of razor teeth elongated from now dark faces, and wings sprouting from their shoulderblades.

“Die!” They screamed in unison, and Azunara what any sensible person in her situation would do. Run. She leaped forth, slashing at one of the Infinites, who in turn tried to stomp on her. She skittered out sideways, slipping away with a toothy grin. Falling into the rhythmic swing of battle, she stuck out her tongue. “Slowpoke!” She taunted. “An ogre moves faster than you dummies! He’s probably smarter too, ha!” She cried, dancing away from a furious slash.

She didn’t see one Infinite swing its wing at her, sending her crashing into the bookshelf. She gave a soft cry of pain, wincing. Okay, ow. That was really, really painful. Slowly getting up and shaking herself, she looked up at the Infinite converging on her, hissing. She darted forth, snapping her jaws on the hands of one of the dragons. It squealed in pain, thrashing and colliding with one of its companions. Leaping away, the druid took her flight up the stairs.

Only to find more of the human-dragons.

“Oh, for Elune’s sake!” She said, switching into old, desperate curses she hadn’t used in a while. The dragons downstairs were disoriented, so they didn’t pursue. Azunara shifted into her bear form, roaring intimidatingly. The dragons looked at each other fearfully, and one of them opened a portal and fled. A second followed pursuit, and Azunara feinted, sending a third dragon fleeing. That still left four.

“Okay. Light preserve me.” Azunara said softly, moving forth. Her thick fur took a lot of the sharp claws, and she grinned savagely, twisting and biting. Her claws tore scales off, exposing tender dragonflesh. Both forces ended up covered in wounds, but the druid was the survivor. She shook herself, shifting into her elven form. Forcing a seed down the cracks of the floorboards, she used the flowers that sprang up to herself, looking rejuvenated. She heard fighting downstairs. Looks like the undead got in.

She shifted into her cat form, moving on. She scouted out the office she had entered, remembering what Chromie said about a secret entrance. She gave a pleased cry when she saw it was behind the bookshelf, moving to press the button.

“Not ssso fassst, mortal. You have besssted my warriorsss, but you will not get the better of me.” A raspy voice said behind her, and the druid turned. She saw a huge Infinite drakanoid. It stood on two legs, hefting a polearm bigger than herself. His claws were as big as her head, and she gave a soft whine. This wasn’t going to end well. Not at all.

Time slowed, trapping her in the room until one of them was dead. She leaped forward, slashing at its lower legs. It roared in pain, and brought its polearm down. Azunara ducked out of the way, and instead of getting skewered, only ended up having her shoulder sliced. The pain disoriented, so when the Infinite brought its polearm around, she didn’t move fast enough. Thrown into the wall, she stayed there, stunned with pain, giving a low whimper. No. She couldn’t die here. Not now.

The Infinite moved closer, scooping her up in its free hand. “Your journey ends now, kitten.” It began to apply pressure, trying to squeeze the life out of the druid.

I love it so far! Now I want to write again. xD

See, I suck at writing battle scenes. Especially at night. You do it very well, though.

*Noms popcorn, eyes wide*

Go on.

/prods for more

Amazing!

I am really glad you all like it! And yeah, Lupis. Because of your story, I felt the itch to write. And battle scenes...eh, a lot of practice from TotH and the PokeRPs.

Comments:

Waking up is hard to do. Rather, doing the beginning is a nightmare. I've had this basic plot in my head for days. I've always struggled to get the beginning right. From Kozri's perspective, to Azu's, to maybe a dream of them, to all sorts of different methods, but I finally settled on this one, and it clicked when I tried it.

I spent a good five, ten minutes trying to find out what the town was where you first see Kel'thuzad is WCIII. Never could find it, so I had to settle on being vague.

This also was difficult to write because how on earth was I going to take care of the whole, "Five member dungeon" part? I decided that they would send her a bit before when the instance would start, so she could avoid most of the undead. The scene with the necromancer and the Infinite intro was totally improvised. I never planned that, but I love that bit now.

Next bit soonish! I have to rewrite the third bit though, it irks me.

Beginnings are always the hardest part for me, which is why the beginning to the TotH short story isn't really that awesome.

Looking forward to the next part.

((Okay, really guys? It's not THAT good. I showed a friend of mine (Who doesn't play WoW whatsoever, too.) and she thought it was awesome. She agrees, she liked the action scenes. Which is funny, because I honestly don't think this is TOO spectacular.

But...it seems you guys prove me wrong. Huh. The second bit here is irritatingly short, sorry for that. It's more filler, because a two part story seems silly. :p Also, good news! I have idea for another WoW story. Hopefully a longer one.

Enjoy!))

It was pain beyond imagining. It filled every inch of him, made his scales tingle. He had never felt pain like this before. Even when as a whelp, playing, he tore a wing membrane…that was nothing compared to this. It radiated from a point, a dark, dangerous center, and drowned out all other thought. He had sent out a weak distress signal a while ago, but it seemed like no one would come. He was on his last reserves.

He would be Infinite.

It seemed like a good idea to let go, give in. He could practically feel the shadow, the darkness creeping over and consuming him, as it had done to so many of his brothers and sisters. At this point, death seemed like a beautiful idea. An idea he would never get. They wouldn’t let a drake like him die. Not when there was so much room to influence. No…They would corrupt him. They would take everything from him, leave him nothing, force him to fight his Flight, his family.

His Flight. The past. He curled up further, uttering a quiet, pained hiss. Memories filled his mind. Coming into the world, a huge bronze shape leaning over him and giving him his name. Learning to fly. Using his magic to put on a human disguise for the first time, and shortening his name, heading to the great city of Ironforge and studying the mortals with a few of his Flight.

He couldn't leave that behind. Never. He was a Bronze dragon. A noble creature, stewards of time. He would not be corrupted.

That thought gave him a small, unfound reserve of strength. He couldn’t fall. He struggled against his torturer, and felt the pain increase. He withdrew, snarling in pain. Casting his senses, expecting another fruitless search, he looked for a rescuer.

And found a small prick of life, close. And dying. Something was killing it. He growled softly. This was Time. He had power. He just hoped that whatever it was would come quickly…He used dregs of his energy to manipulate time, hoping to aid the other life.

If he was too late to save it…Then he would go down with it.

*Squees* More awesomeness. ^_^

((OH, right. Part Three. I've rewritten this ending so many times, and it still displeases me, but I'll live. For those of you who did like my writing, I have another idea in the works. For those who didn't, uhm...sorry?))

“Elune…light my path,” Azunara mumbled softly, feeling everything darken around her. She hadn’t prayed to Elune in a long time, her time with the humans causing her to refer to the Light as habit. But it seemed like the Moon Goddess would accept the druid in her embrace…Azunara whined softly. If only it hadn’t ended like this…

Some power stirred though, and there was a low, warning buzz in the room as magic gathered. It struck, and everything became light again. There was a sensation of flying, then the sharp pain of the bookshelf as she crashed into it once more. “I hate these stupid dragons,” She moaned, slowly shaking herself and getting up, glad she was alive.

Confused, she looked at her would-be killer. The large Infinite had fallen to the ground, looking dazed and confused. Even more odd was he wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing. She could easily sense he was alive though. “Fel,” She blinked, “Gods have a strange way of showing their mercy.” She tilted her head, trying to puzzle out what had happened to the creature.

“Hurry, druid! His life is fading fast.” Azunara shook herself, nodding. Right. She left the “dead” dragon behind, and padded over to the bookshelf, nudging the button that opened it. It slowly began creaking open, and Azunara peered into the dusty hallway. The sounds of fighting were considerably louder, and she figured it was a good idea to move before the undead and Infinite caught up to her.

The smell of smoke was a worrying enough scent, and the sky was red as flames licked the building. “Oh, bloody Light.” Azunara groaned. Really? Could it get worse? Truly and honestly?

The sounds behind her proved it could, and she moved quickly, slipping into the shadows…and crashing into a Nerubian. It chattered in its language, and all the undead nearby stared at the white druid.

“Uhm. This looks bad, really…But, uh…Can you not rend the flesh from bones and use me to feed the geists? Or worse, raise me back from the dead to be an ugly ghoul? I think cat form is a lot neater than being a ghoul. You…aren’t listening, are you? I’m going to have to fight my way out, huh? Figures. Undead were never great negotiators.” She sighed, a blast of shadow dissipating near her as she dove to the ground. The Nerubian jabbed its claws down, but Azunara snapped her jaws, severing one. It gave a piercing, painful shriek and Azunara recoiled, shaking her head as her ears rang.

She missed a ghoul that leaped for her, and it sank its rotting teeth into her already hurt shoulder. She broke out into an angry, pained hiss and slashed, shaking the ghoul off. It fell apart as its necromantic energies faded. She looked at the bite wound, scowling. She better get that cleansed. The Nerubian went for her again, but she dove under it, raking her claws on its exposed underside. It wailed, and folded up, collapsing onto the ground.

Azunara oriented herself, leaping for the necromancer. He easily fell to her claws, his robes providing nothing in the way of protection. She bolted, leaving the shambling dead behind. She was pleased with herself. So far, so good. If you ignored the fact she was nearly killed –wait, she had to count on her claws- four? five? times, it wasn’t too bad an adventure.

The cat went towards the Infinite Corrupter she saw, sneaking close. It whipped around, sensing her, and she broke out into panicked cursing. Stupid, fel-blasted dragons! “The Bronze is ours, mortal!” It crowed, and Azunara lashed her tail. “Yeah, well. I didn’t face your stupid brothers, undead, and nearly got squished to stop her.” She replied, leaping forward.

Her claws tore at the dragon’s scales, and they fell to the ground, clattering. She whipped around to dodge the dragon’s tail, leaping on top of its back and trying to bite down on the back of its neck. “Stupid scales!” She yowled, and was bucked off, flying through the air and crashing down on cobblestone. She hissed in soft, whining pain. “I…hate…you.” She whimpered, getting up. Nothing seemed too broken yet. And after all her unexpected flights, too.

She shifted into bear form for weight, tackling and pinning down the Infinite dragon. It snarled, slashing and biting. Azunara angled herself to keep it pinned, pressing her front paws on its muzzle and sitting on its chest. “Bad dragon! Sit! Stay! Down!” She commanded it, and it squeaked in pain. She lashed out, and satisfied it wouldn’t bother her anymore, checked on the bronze dragon.

The shadow had faded from its hide with the Corrupter’s death. It was breathing shallowly, and Azunara didn’t feel too good herself. “Help. Gotta get help.” She said softly, digging in her bags for her hearthstone. She wondered vaguely what Stormwind’s policy on dragons was, placing one paw on the dragon, the other pressing down on the stone.

---

It was supposed to be a normal day. The sun was shining, the beasts were calm, everything seemed just right. This was the thought of Jenova Stoneshield, Stable Master of Stormwind City. She ended up dead wrong when the cat and her…strange companion teleported into the middle of the grassy grounds, right in the pen with the spider. It skittered out irritably, joining the pen with Barnaby the wolf, who just didn’t care. Jenova looked at the pair, blinking. “Aye, my head is going to hurt.” She said, sighing.

Azunara glanced at the stable master, grinning sheepishly. Her cousin was a huntress, and they seemed the most trustworthy. Luckily, the guards were off-duty, so no one noticed the unusual group. Azunara rapidly explained the situation, and Jenova nodded, “Lemme get me bandages, we’ll fix ‘em right up.”

---

His head hurt, but the unbearable pain was otherwise gone. He blinked, opening his eyes and noticed multiple things at once. One, at some point instinct had kicked in and he was in his human form. Two, his wounds were either bandaged or healed. Three, there was a druid inches from his face, looking extremely worried. “Wha-what is going on?” He mumbled in confusion, sitting upright, much to his head’s protest.

The druid quickly explained her rescue mission, recounting the story. “Ah, good to know Chromie wouldn’t let a fledgling like me die. Of course…I wonder what the rest of my Flight thinks. Or if they know I’m alive…” He groaned, resting his head on his knees.

Azunara tilted her head, “Well. If you have nowhere to go, you should come with me! It’s never boring when I’m around, that’s what my cousin says. Besides, you’re still hurt. And I don’t think you can stay here longer, the stable master needs more room.”

The human blinked, and then broke into a grin. “You’re absolutely insane. But you’re right. I can’t stay here longer. And I owe you, druid. My name is Kozridormu, and I pledge myself to your protection.”

Azunara shook her head, “I’m Azu, and you don’t have to be so weird and formal. You’re my friend. Come on, I know this great sunning spot! Wanna go check it out?” The human smiled bemusedly, and the druid bolted out, her new friend following.

"You're absolutely insane."
That made me cackle, a lot. ^.^
Great as always!

*grins.* Glad you approve! That line amuses me too. Azu says a whole lot of lines that amuse me. Like, "Undead were never great negotiators."

*Squee!* Great ending just as the rest of it was great! =D

Awesome!